DELAND, Fla.,None — A pair of good Samaritans came to the aid Friday of an elderly woman whose purse was snatched.
The 76-year-old woman was attacked and shoved to the ground in the parking lot of a Winn-Dixie store on West New York Avenue in DeLand.
WFTV spoke with one of the men who helped police catch the purse-snatcher and asked him why he would chase down a robber in the parking lot, knowing it could be dangerous.
He said that somewhere, you've got to draw the line. The victim, who's recovering at home, said over the phone that she's thankful for his help.
"I heard this lady yelling, 'Help, help, help!'" Spurlin Cox said. "And I noticed someone was trying to take her purse from her."
Cox and another man immediately began chasing after the purse-snatcher.
"The only thing I can really remember is I said, 'No, this ain't happening.' And I just took off after the guy," Cox said. "That's somebody's mother. That's how I look at it."
Cox caught that "guy" and held him for police, who identified the suspect as Travis Perkins. According to his charging affidavit, 41-year-old Perkins told police he's homeless and needed money to buy his son a Christmas present.
He also said he wouldn't do it again, but DeLand police said he's already been charged with doing it before, during a robbery earlier in 2011 at another Volusia County Winn-Dixie.
Shoppers on Friday said they were relieved that someone helped the victim and that the suspect is in custody.
"I applaud anybody who steps in," said Barbara Swafford, a Winn-Dixie shopper. "And if more people did it, the safer place we would have."
WFTV
